New Hope
by Random Muggle
Summary: What if Dumbledore died that night in the Department of Mysteries? New powers come into play as the stakes start to rise, who will win this time?
1. The End

They were running through the forbidden forest. Trees were darting past. The jeers and shouts of the Death Eaters pounding on their ears. Adrenalin thrumming through their veins. Hermione shrieked out the warning "Cliff!" to everyone, but she couldn't stop in time. She skidded off the side, into the violent waters below. Due to her warning the others were able to skid to a halt a few feet from the edge.

Ron didn't stop.

As Ron disappeared over the edge Harry lunged forward and grabbed his wrist."Let me go!" Ron screamed. Tears ran down Ron's face, mingling with the rain that poured down in frenzied torrents. "There's nothing left for us here!" Ron continued, "She was all I had left!" Harry bowed his head, his grip slackened. "Please…" Ron whispered. 'Let go.' a voice whispered in Harry's ear. 'Let go, then jump. Jump and join them. Join Ron and Hermione. Join your parents, Sirius, Remus, even Dumbledore. Everything will be better when you jump.'

"See you soon." Harry whispered to Ron, then he let go. He saw Ron's eyes widen before he vanished into the rain. Harry stood and turned to face Draco, Luna and Neville. "I'm going to jump." He said softly. They all heard him, their senses having long since sharpened while hiding from Death Eaters. Being on the run can do that to you.

Luna smiled grimly "If you do, I'll follow." Harry wasn't surprised, none of them were.

Neville nodded, "Me too." They looked at Draco. He looked at them as if he was shocked.

"What!?! You think that just because your all susidal I'm going to-to" he looked absolutely disgusted, "stay here, ALONE!?!?!"

That took a second to sink in, and when it did the others let out a rarely heard chuckle. "Come on," Harry muttered, shaking his head. Not even the blinding rain could hide the elated grin on his face. Nothing could tear the rag-tag group apart. Not war, Not Voldemort, Not even death himself. They stepped towards the edge and looked down.

Draco whistled, "Long drop." He looked at Harry. "Looks like fun." His eyes glowed with excitement and anticipation. After Dumbledore kicked it in the Department of Mysteries Draco joined the light, purely because it "Looked like fun." His slight insanity became well-known and feared among the Death Eaters. Most of the deadly curses he uses are quite painful, pain not unlike that of _cruio,_ matter of fact. He is also somewhat an adrenalin junkie.

Harry nodded and said, "Who's first?" Neville volunteered without hesitation. He stopped being afraid a long time ago, they all did. When you have nothing to lose, what's to fear? Luna jumped after Neville, letting out a small whoop as she plummeted towards the water. Harry glanced at Draco, then jumped as well. Draco kicked a pebble over the cliff, trailing its decent with his eyes. He smiled softly to himself when he could no longer track it through the rain.

Draco looked at the destruction behind him, beyond the forest. He looked at the chaos he could have been apart of, had he only embraced the darkness. Shrugging he whispered to the fallen Hogwarts "Ya win some, ya lose some." And then he too jumped, head first.

_I was right_ he thought, seconds away from the End. _This is fun!_

With a grin on his face, the last of the resistance left the world of death and destruction he was born and raised in. Never to return.

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

I'm afraid I have gotten a few hits, but no reviews. I'm not sure if anyone likes the story. I don't want to update untill at least one person tells me that they want me too.

And no, they dont die.


	2. Suprise, suprise

Ron swam deeper, trying find Hermione. There was no hope for survival, but maybe they could die in each others arms. He knew what Harry meant, so it was no use hoping they didn't get captured. Ron wasn't upset. He knew it was for the best. It was the only way.

There!

He saw Hermione's face, a shining beacon in the black depths. Her hair floated around her head like a halo, giving her an ethereal appearance. Her eyes were open and staring towards the distant surface. Ron swam to her, and she saw him out of the corner of her eye. 'Must have seen the hair.' Ron thought amusedly. She reached out to him and he held her. His lungs burned and he took on water. Air rose above them in large bubbles as liquid death filled his lungs. Hermione smiled at him, and he smiled back. They closed their eyes as one, waiting for death to claim them.

Then something grabbed him.

Hands grabbed the backs of his and Hermione's robes, yanking both of them towards the surface. He was too weak to fight them, and wasn't sure if he wanted to. They weren't trying to separate him from Hermione, that's all that mattered. They broke the surface, coughing and sputering. Ron hurled several thimes and was sure Hermione had as well. Throughout all of this the hands pulled them steadily towards shore. Dimly Ron thought the guy pulling them must be quite strong to keep this up.

They hit the beach and the guy hauled them out of the water. Ron started shaking, teeth chattering from the cold. Hermione was cold as well, he could feel her shaking violently aginst him. Next thing he knew Hermione was pulled from his grasp. He tried to hold onto her, but he was frozen and weak. He pried his eyes open a crack, trying to see what was going on. Only then, with the gears in his head starting to turn, did he realise that it was no longer raining. Nor, he realized, was the ground wet. He opened his eyes wider and saw thier savior was not a guy, but a girl, no older than himself. Paying no attention to her own soaked clothes and waist-length hair, she was wrapping Hermione up in furs. Hermione had been stripped down to her underware, her clothes and robes lay in a crumpled heap in the near by sand. The girl rung out Hermione's hair, then set her down aginst a rock, bundled up like a baby.

Next she came over to Ron and stripped him down as well. Ron was too tired to protest, and knew that he needed to get warm so he didn't try to fight her. She lifted him, once he ws all bundled up, as if he were nothing and set hin down next to a now-sleeping Hermione. Ron was exausted, but did not want to let his gaurd down around the strange girl. 'Not that I could _do_ anything,' He thought to himself, 'what with me being weak as a mouse and her being stronger than what I would have thought possible.'

Ron felt better wrapped in the furs but was still shivering. She noticed this and put her hand on his cheek. Her hand was still wet from the rescue and Ron wondered why she wasn't cold. On the contrary, her hand was so hot he thought it might burn him. "Damn," She muttered, "you'r freezing. Better get a fire going." She had an american accent. He could see her outline shuffling around the edges of the forest. 'Must be gathering kindling.' Ron thought. Soon Ron heard the _crack_ of rock craching aginst rock and a small fire sparked to life. Ron finally saw her face and was dumbstruck.

She had two tatoos (or so he thought ) on each cheek. Two horisantal stripes that looked very similar to claw marks. There was a cresent moon tatooed on her forehead and her eyes had cat-like slits, instead of pupils. She smiled at his shocked expression, revealing fangs in the place of canines. Ron felt his mouth drop open and her smile grew. "What I wouldn't give to have a camera on hand." she said. 'Deff. an american accent.'Ron thought, snapping his mouth shut.

"What are you?" Ron croaked. He frowned, ' Drowning- not good for the voice.' he decided.

She shrugged, "I'll explain everything in a minute. For now, I need to go grab your friends." with that she turned around and sprinted towards the water's edge. She reached the border of the ring of light the medium sized fire provided and was swallowed up by the darkness. Ron looked around, trying to get a feal for where he was. He couldent be sure if the wolf tail he saw comming out of the small of her back was real or just his imagination. Eventually he settled for staring at the fire, waiting for the strange girl to return, hopefully with the rest of the group in tow.

I was going to add more, but figured I had waited way too long.


	3. Welcome!

Neville had only been under water for a few seconds before he saw a shape swimming towards him. It turned out to be a girl with weird markings on her face. She swam right up to him and gestured to the surface. When he just floated there she rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, tugging him upwards.

Curious, he started to swim as well. She smiled at him and let go so he could use both arms.

They reached the surface and she simply watched as Neville breathed deeply.

"We're going to save your friends." She said as Neville regained his composure.

He was surprised, but figured he shouldn't have been. Why else would she be out here in... this... storm...

For the first time Neville noticed the waters were calm, and the skies clear. "What-?" He started but was cut off by the girl.

"I'll explain later. For now I've got work to do. Stay here." With that last command she dove back under, leaving a confused, but obedient, Neville behind.

**(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)**

Luna swam across the sea floor, looking for seashells to put in her hair. Her white mane trailed behind her, seaweed already threaded through the pale strands. Eventually she sat and made a crown out of coral, seashells, and seaweed.

Luna turned to face the girl that swam up behind her and placed the crown upon her head, braiding seaweed and hair to keep it in place. The girl raised an eyebrow, but just shrugged and swam with Luna to the surface. Luna wasn't surprised to find Neville there treading water. They both looked at the girl.

"Alright," She started in a 'listen up' voice. "You see that light over there?" She pointed to shore. "That's where I setup camp. You two are going to swim to shore. When you reach shore your going to take off those soaking wet clothes before you freeze to death. There is a fire and some fur blankets, so there's no excuse for not drying off. Got it?"

They nodded, slightly bewildered (at least Neville was) and started for shore.

"Oh! And if one of yall starts sinkin', holler at me, K? K." She dove under again.

**(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)(Chapter Three)**

Harry sank further into the darkness. It was so peaceful, once you got used to the cold. Was this death? He thought distantly. Must be, nothing is this peaceful.

A slender arm wrapped around his chest like a band of steal. A warm body brushed against his back as it propelled them both upwards, the shape was definitely female. 'An Angel?' Harry thought confusedly. He had killed, many times in cold blood. There is no place for him in heaven, if there is such a place. The movement stopped for a moment, then continued in a different direction, an upwards slant, instead of straight up.

Harry looked around and spotted Draco, floating lifelessly in their path. The girl reached out and wrapped her other arm around Draco's chest as well. He got a glimpse of her hand and was shocked to see that instead of nails she had claws. He tried to get a look at her face but her black hair swirled around her upper body, preventing him from seeing any part of her.

He looked up again just in time to see the surface before they were surrounded by air. He spit up quite a bit of water as he convulsed with coughs, but he heard no noise form Draco.

Harry tried to swim to the other side of the girl (who was puling them to shore) so he could take a look at Draco, but her grip was frightening in its strength. She had either under gone a ritual or was_ not _human Harry decided after struggling all the way to shore. She didn't even seem to notice!

Holding Harry forcibly still is by no means an easy feat. While he wasn't as tall as Ron or as muscular as Neville, he was no longer the scrawny short kid. He was about 6' maybe 6'1" (he hasn't had a chance to check) compared to Ron (6'5"... ish) he was short, but for average he was semi-tall. He wasn't quite as 'built' as Neville but could hold his own in a fist fight.

Harry was snapped out of his musings by the girl pulling them onto shore. Her grip shifted and she flipped them onto her slender shoulders, so their feet won't drag on the ground. Her small hands under their knees was the only thing holding them up.

She set them both down next to the others at the camp. Harry called out in a hoarse voice, "Draco...!" trying to rouse him. Draco did not show any signs of life. The girl was kneeling down next to Draco. She reached out and felt his neck.

"Shit." She muttered under her breath. She picked up his wrist to feel for a pulse there. For a moment every one waited with baited breath, eager to see if death had separated them after all. The Not-Quite-Human girl exhaled sharply then positioned her hands on the front of Draco's sopping wet clothes. 1, 2, 3, times she pumped his chest then leaned towards his face and plugged his nose, blowing into his mouth.

She repeated the process six times, with no results. Harry turned away, sure of his friends demise. Then he heard the most wonderful sound known to man-kind.

Retching.

Draco was coughing up all the sea water (and other things he may have swallowed)! Harry spun back to look, to be sure that his ears had not deceived him. Draco was sitting up halfway, with the assistance of the girl, and retching into the sand beside him.

Harry's face split into a wide grin and he let out a small laugh.

After they were all situated and bundled up, the girl started to explain.

"Ok," She paused. "No, wait. Ummm," She scrunched up her brow. "Oh, right!" Her finger was extended in the air as if she was saying 'Ah-ha!' Her finger curled back into her hand as she deflated. "No, no. That won't make sense..." She muttered to herself. She looked up to see them all staring at her. "I don't know where to start." She mumbled, looking very much like a small child.

"How about the beginning?" Hermione said gently.

The girl nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok. Basically, the world needs you." She looked at them seriously. "You all have the power to make a difference, you just need to be given the chance. What I've done is give you the chance you never had." All she got was multiple blank looks.

She sighed. "At the moment I have taken up the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts. I can pull some strings and get you in as either students or professors."

"What are you talking about?!" Ron yelled out before the others could speak. "Hogwarts fell two years ago!"

The girl smirked. "Actually, Hogwarts will fall in roughly 20 years." Mass confusion.

"What?" Neville asked.

"Welcome to the year 1977."


End file.
